時差N小時:空氣潔凈法令

The first time Congress dealt with any issuepertaining to unclean air was in 1955. Prior to that,states had passed their own legislation dealingwith the problems of impure air… most of it excesssmoke from burning fields and clearing forests. Butas industry and our nation grew, more people andmore land were exposed to dirty air emissions fromindustrial smokestacks and automobile exhaust.

國會處理關(guān)于空氣污染的問題始于1955年。在此之前，各州自己制定法律，用以解決空氣污染問題。過量的煙霧大多產(chǎn)生于田地燃燒和森林砍伐。但隨著工業(yè)發(fā)展，國力增強，越來越多的人和土地暴露在工業(yè)煙囪和汽車排放的污濁空氣中。

By the 1960s, environmental issues had become a public concern, as scientific studies linked airpollution to specific health issues. The Clean Air Act of 1963 marked the beginning offederally funded air quality research programs to deal with increasing amounts of smog. Twoyears later, it was amended to include cars as a source of pollution. The Clean Air Act of1970, the year the EPA was established, was even more robust, and subsequent amendmentsin 1977 and 1990 addressed ozone depletion and acid rain.

到1960年，環(huán)境問題備受公眾關(guān)注，科學研究也將空氣污染與具體的健康問題聯(lián)系起來。1963年的空氣潔凈法令成為聯(lián)邦政府提供資助，進行空氣質(zhì)量研究以處理日益增加的煙霧的開端。兩年后，這項法案的修正案將汽車納入污染源范疇。環(huán)保署成立那年頒布的1970年空氣潔凈法令內(nèi)容更加充實。1977以及1990年的后繼修正案中重點提到了臭氧層破壞和酸雨的危害。

Enforcing clean air standards has helped control pollution and reduce health hazards over theyears, but the process of improving and amending this Act to keep our air clean is on—going, asthe costs to industry must be weighed against the benefits to the environment. The Clean AirAct—one of the most complex and extensive pieces of federal environmental legislation—remains very much a work in progress.

近年來，潔凈空氣法規(guī)的實行在控制污染和減少對人類健康的危害方面起到促進作用。然而，改進、修訂這條法令的進程還在繼續(xù)，因為良好環(huán)境帶來的好處必須要與工業(yè)的損失相抗衡。作為聯(lián)邦環(huán)境法律中最復雜，范圍最廣的條例，空氣潔凈法令還在如火如荼地進行著。